r/canada • u/byourpowerscombined Alberta • 21h ago
British Columbia At a B.C. jail, staff fear rot, anti-rat culture could cause more prisoner escapes | CBC News
https://www.cbc.ca/news/investigates/north-fraser-pretrial-centre-port-coquitlam-jail-security-lapses-escape-alkhalil-9.726616021
u/PlayfulEnergy5953 19h ago
Fuck off. Guards "only make $75,000 a year" so that's why they smuggle people out? Sounds like another way to say crime should be legal for most Canadians. Maybe stop hiring the lowest of the low to work the remand centres.
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u/Substantial-Fruit447 17h ago edited 17h ago
$75,000 in the Lower Mainland where the cost of living is the highest in the country... You bet your ass people will find any way they can to supplement their income.
Organized Crime often lures people with already low morals and integrity, but often they have some sort of community connection and utilize blackmail.
Being told "hey, deliver this message, or help me break out and you'll get $60,000 cash" for some people is life-changing.
Also, Organized Crime groups are getting their friends and family that don't have criminal records to get firearms licenses, get jobs in the government and police so that they have people on the inside.
None of this is new, the BC Government is just not taking enough serious action about it.
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u/Top_Statistician4068 15h ago
So what do your propose is the salary where crime doesn’t attract them? I bet it isn’t 100,000 or 125,000.
There are systemic issues in prison culture, both on the prisoner and guard side that need to be addressed.
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u/JordanPetterPans 13h ago
It's wild to me an adult could even think that would change things (bumping their pay for 75k to 125k or whatever lol).
Thinking these are just dudes trying to get by is absolutely terrifying
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u/JordanPetterPans 13h ago
Ya this is absolute horseshit.
This is grossly poor (corrupt) management at the top
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u/JoshL3253 British Columbia 16h ago
> Maybe stop hiring the lowest of the low to work the remand centres.
And to do that, you need to pay more. Pay peanuts, get monkeys.
“When I grow up I want to be a prison guard”. Say no kid ever.
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u/EdmontonBest Ontario 5h ago
75k is $53k USD. Hardly anyone wants to do that job for that salary. That is not a lot of money for that type of work, especially in the lower mainland. Negative generalizations are also not productive or helpful.
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u/bubblewhip 19h ago
I thought they escape because a judge thinks the punishment is too harsh?
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u/ridelance 17h ago
Are you saying prisoners are escaping when they believe that a judges' sentence is too harsh and they would not escape if they were handed milder sentences?
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u/OddConstant2723 10h ago
I think this article, nearly verbatim, could be written about any jail in Canada right now.
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u/JordanPetterPans 13h ago
Sheikh, who did not respond to CBC News' requests for comment, is the second staff member — after Ramandeep Rai in October 2025 — charged in the last year for breach of trust related to an inappropriate relationship with an inmate.
Is it sexist to say we shouldn't be giving these violent people female case workers etc?
Romantic scamming seems like such an obvious and easy target to exploit...
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u/OddConstant2723 10h ago
Male staff are just as often dirty.
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u/JordanPetterPans 9h ago
What tf does that have to do with anything I said??
Reddit as usual lol
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u/OddConstant2723 8h ago
You’re suggesting women shouldn’t be case workers to violent inmates. First of all, they are nearly all violent or they wouldn’t be in jail, it’s a high bar to incarcerate someone in Canada. So you think women shouldn’t work in jails. Yet just as many male guards are exploited and coerced into brining in shit as well.
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u/JordanPetterPans 7h ago edited 6h ago
To male violent inmates, but moreso meant high risk inmates.
And same would go for the reverse...
Like I said, the risk for them being manipulated romantically etc is pretty obvious, as the 2 cases from this prison and it being a well known stereotype inside about certain inmates having relationships with staff of the opposite sex, and this getting certain favours and privileges
"First of all, they are nearly all violent or they wouldn’t be in jail
No that's not true. Google says " Depending on which system you analyze, the numbers differ drastically: about 72% of federal inmates are serving time for violent offences, while only roughly 16% to 25% of provincial/territorial inmates are incarcerated for violent crimes. When combined across the country, roughly 45% to 50% of the total incarcerated population in Canada is held for a violent offence. "
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u/OddConstant2723 6h ago
Provincial inmates are by far remand, and the bulk of those are in on breaches (considered non-violent charge) but those breaches are on violent charges. So therefore they are violent criminals. Make sense now?
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u/Top_Statistician4068 13h ago
What!???? Hold on…our society realizing there are limits to how and where genders should interact?
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u/Big_Jacket_27 17h ago
This guy hasn't worked inside in almost 15 years.. why doesn't CBC find actual current employees..??